30 Days Of Chrome: Chromebooks Are Better Than Your iPad Or Surface

Anthony Karcz
, ContributorI write about how to do more with your consumer gadgets.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Anthony Karcz

Shiny gear isn't necessary for a great Chrome OS experience, but it sure does help.

Updated on 9/14 to correct the case materials.

We're a week into my experiment and I don't want to go running back to Cupertino...yet. There are a few oddities here and there (some software, some hardware); but nothing showstopping. Part of the reason for that is the gear.

Google sent over a Samsung Chromebook Pro to be my main machine for the month. It's Samsung's top-of-the-line Chromebook, with a convertible touchscreen, and it's better than it has any right to be for a sub-$600 machine.

Samsung

Black aluminum, my only weakness.

Out of the box, the Chromebook is thinner and lighter than I'd expect. With a 12.3-inch screen, it's a little smaller than my iPad Pro; but the 2400-by-1600 resolution is just as sharp to my eyes, even though the iPad pumps out a higher resolution (maybe it's the Gorilla Glass that they use for the screen). Unless I have the machines side-by-side, I don't even notice the size difference.

Where I do notice the difference is in the weight. With the Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case, the iPad Pro clocks in way above the 2.3 pounds of the Samsung Chromebook Pro. The Samsung's case is an injection-molded magnesium alloy coated with a black metallic finish and is actually quite similar to the Razer case. My brain is constantly telling me it's the same thing whenever I walk by it. A quirk of perception, but a testament to the quality materials Samsung used for the case.

Samsung

Rare to find a convertible that's as solid a tablet as it is a laptop

That difference in weight is especially noticeable when I flip the screen around to employ the Chromebook as a tablet. I initially thought it would be strange to bend the Chromebook in half; but it's a solid build, the hinges feel sturdy and are built to accommodate teepee and reverse display configurations. Wherever you bend the screen to, it's going to stay put. At a little over half an inch thick, it's a little chunkier in tablet mode than the iPad (and it's admittedly a bit weird to have the keys under my fingertips), but I prefer bringing the whole device with me as opposed to leaving half the combo behind like a vestigial shell. I'm always worried about the iPad's keyboard case that the cumulative stress of coupling and decoupling will break something over time. Plus, once you remove the need for being able to separate the two parts of the device, the physical connection is, not surprisingly, more stable. Even with its giant stabilizing foot, my "Word Processing Machine" has a lot of shimmy when I really start pounding on the keys. Not so with the Samsung.